I borrowed TJ's boogie board this morning. Robin had decided not to kayak today, because he got a bit too much sun yesterday. So much for his announcement last night that he would be kayaking all the way to Puerto Vallarta and back today! (Not that anybody believed him) So he wouldn't be swimming, either.

I decided I would take the bull by the horns, or the boogie board by its strap, and just do it. I hooked the strap to my right wrist and walked out into the water. I did pretty well at that, I must say - much less wussy (wussily?) than yesterday. I used the board as a battering ram, only dumped myself a couple of times, only got my leg tangled in the strap and scared myself once, fought my way out beyond the breakers, and then lay on the board, floating among the pelicans.

That sounds really good, doesn't it? Hah! What I didn't know - though I should have known - is that lying on a boogie board, bobbing up and down on the waves, rolling up and down on the rollers, is a lot like being in a small boat, except that your legs are in the water. Does it still sound good? No. Not if you get seasick standing on a dock. The longer I was out there, rolling, the worse I felt. I decided finally to go back to the shore and unload the boogie board. I pointed my nose at the beach and started kicking, kicking, trying to catch waves, but I was making slow progress, feeling ill.

Suddenly, there he was - my knight in shining armour - well, my impossibly blond surfer in swimsuit. I don't know whether he saw me struggling along and came to rescue me, or whether we just happened to cross paths. He may even have been a lifeguard, now that I think about it. He smiled and nodded.

"How ya doin?"

"Fine," I said, "except I'm feeling a little seasick."

"Want a tow?"

"Sure!"

He pointed down the beach and said "I'm going to take you down this way a bit, to get us out of this rip current."

Rip current. Well, that would explain why it was taking me so long to get to shore.

He passed me a length of plastic tube that turned out to be a loop. Then he lay down on his board and took off, swimming. He swam like a speedboat. It was absolutely wonderful. I just wish I had been up to fully appreciating the ride for its own sake. As it was, I was too busy being grateful.

When we got close enough to shore that I could stand up, I thanked my hero and let go of the strap. I regretted it almost immediately, as the backwash was still quite strong, but I did manage to get up onto the beach under my own power. That was a couple of hours ago. I figure I'll stop being seasick - any time now.

Photo courtesy of Kristin Ames